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US · Form 8962 · Verified
IRS Form 8962 · Verified

Premium Tax Credit

What the Marketplace subsidy is worth for 2026 — and the ceiling that came back this year, which cuts it to nothing.

Prepared for the 2026 tax year.

The percentage table for 2026 comes from the IRS and was published in August 2025. The poverty guidelines it is measured against come from HHS, and they lag a year — the 2026 return uses the 2025 figures.

Alaska and Hawaii have their own poverty tables, and the ceiling sits at a higher income in both. A move between them during the year complicates it — Form 8962 asks for the state you lived in on the first day of each month.
You, your spouse if you file jointly, and everyone you claim as a dependant. Form 8962 line 1. A child you cover who is not your dependant does not go here.
This is modified adjusted gross income, and it is wider than the figure on your return. Form 8962 line 2 begins with your 1040 line 11 and then adds tax-exempt interest, the non-taxable part of Social Security, and any foreign earned income you excluded. If you are self-employed this is your income before the health insurance deduction — that deduction is what the worksheet loop is about.
The yearly figure, not monthly. It is column B of Part III on your Form 1095-A, or the Marketplace tax tool for your ZIP code. This is the benchmark the credit is measured against — not the plan you bought.
Column A of Part III on the 1095-A. Whatever metal tier you chose. The credit cannot exceed this, because it cannot pay more than the plan costs.
Enter your household income and the two figures from your Form 1095-A, then press Calculate. The benchmark premium is the one people get wrong — it is not what you pay, it is what the second-cheapest Silver plan in your area costs.

Your result

Tax year 2026
Line 4 — household income as a share of the poverty line 0%
Line 5 — the applicable percentage 0%
Line 8a — your share of the benchmark plan $0
Line 11 — the premium tax credit $0
The same figure per month $0

Got the credit? The part of the premium it did not cover is deductible when you are self-employed, and the Self-Employed Health Insurance Deduction Calculator works that out on Form 7206.

Not sure the advance you received was right? That is a different figure from this one. The advance is column C of your 1095-A; this is what it should have been.

Where these figures come from

Form
IRS Form 8962 — the credit is line 11
Authority
IRC §36B
Percentage table
Rev. Proc. 2025-25 §3.01, 25 Aug 2025
Poverty guidelines
HHS, 90 FR 3748, 17 Jan 2025 — the 2025 figures, which the 2026 return uses
The ceiling
100% to 400% of the poverty line — above it, the credit is nothing
Reported on
Form 1040, Schedule 3 line 9
Verified
4 October 2026
How this is worked out

The credit is not a percentage of your premium. It is the benchmark plan in your area, less a share of your own income — and if the benchmark costs less than that share, there is no credit at all.

Your income against the poverty line
Household income ÷ poverty guideline for your household size
Form 8962 line 4 · HHS 2025 guidelines
Your share of the benchmark
Household income × applicable percentage
Rev. Proc. 2025-25 §3.01 · Form 8962 line 8a
The credit
Benchmark − your share, capped at what your plan costs
Form 8962 lines 10 and 11

The formulas are shown as the authority defines them, in its own terms — the arithmetic is not copyrightable and the rates are public-domain US government material. What these lines cannot tell you is where your figures came from; that is what the table above is for.

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